Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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429. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth how he intends to address the shortage of childcare places currently available to parents in rural and urban areas; the specific supports and incentives he will put in place to ensure that experienced childminders do not leave the sector; and how new childminders will be encouraged to join the sector. [6789/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Ensuring high quality early learning and childcare is accessible and affordable is a key priority for me and there are a number of funding programmes available through my Department that seek to improve capacity.

Since 2015, significant increases in State investment in early learning and childcare have given rise to a substantial growth in the numbers of children participating in these services. Every year, more than 100,000 children participate in the universal pre-school programme (ECCE) and more than 105,000 children are now benefitting from the National Childcare Scheme (NCS).

In addition to this, a range of other steps are being taken by my Department to address issues of under-supply.

Some €70m has been allocated to my Department through the revised National Development Plan (NDP) – with the majority of this funding earmarked for new places.

In addition, the new Core Funding scheme, introduced on 15 September last year, has given rise to a significant growth in capacity - with initial analysis showing a significant capacity growth for certain cohorts (such as babies and toddlers) and in areas where there has been significant pressure on places.

To meet the cost of this capacity growth, I recently announced that the original allocation for Core Funding will be increased to €259 million for Year 1 of the Scheme. In addition, the full year value of Core Funding will increase by €28 million to €287 million in Year 2 of the Scheme.

Funding earmarked for the Scheme in Year 2 will be informed by the emerging data from Year 1 and may focus on promoting further capacity expansion.

In April of last year, City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) undertook a nationwide survey of capacity in early learning and childcare services. This survey was followed in May by the Annual Early Years Sector Profile Survey that is undertaken by Pobal.

Preliminary analysis of the latest data captured by CCCs and Pobal reveal a drop in vacancy rates across the country – with the national vacancy rate now averaging at 13.3%.

The network of 30 CCCs across the country are in a position to match children and families to services operating with vacant places. In addition, the CCCs has been mobilised to engage proactively with services to identify vacant places and to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need. Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their CCC for assistance. Contact details for CCCs may be found on www.myccc.ie.

In relation to supports and incentives for childminders, the National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 sets out a plan for extending regulation and State supports, including access to the National Childcare Scheme, to childminders, on a phased basis. A specific objective of the National Action Plan is to support the recruitment and retention of childminders.

The National Action Plan for Childminding commits to a supportive, phased transition process, to facilitate the largest possible number of childminders to enter the regulated sector, the sphere of quality assurance, and access to Government subsidies, while recognising the time and supports required for this reform. It is important that an incremental approach is taken to ensure that childminders are supported to engage with regulation and quality development, and are not driven out of the sector. I would like to stress the commitment in the Action Plan to respecting what is different about childminding, by developing new regulations and a new inspection model that are proportionate and appropriate to the home setting in which childminders work, and by ensuring that training and other supports are tailored to childminders’ needs and working hours.

Communication activities outlined in the Action Plan include the promotion of childminding as a career, to support recruitment of new childminders into the sector, particularly in the context of the increasing support for childminding as a profession during the course of the Action Plan. The promotion of childminding as a career will form part of the wider effort to raise the profile of careers in early learning and care and in school-age childcare, which is a First 5 commitment and forms part of Nurturing Skills, the Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare 2022-2028.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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430. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he accepts that the number of childminders in the State is far in excess of the 15,000 quoted by his Department based on CSO data; and the methods his Department is taking to identify additional childminders who, for a particular reason, did not identify themselves on the CSO census. [6790/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There is considerable uncertainty about the number of children cared for by childminders and the total number of childminders working in Ireland today. The National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 brought together data from a range of data sources, including the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Growing Up in Ireland survey, and a 2020 IPSOS-MRBI survey of parents conducted on behalf of my Department. On the basis of these data sources, the National Action Plan for Childminding estimated that approximately 82,000 children are cared for by a childminder, nanny or au pair, with 70-75% of these children (i.e. approximately 60,000) cared for in the childminder’s home. Surveys of Childminding Ireland members indicated that on average childminders care for 4 children, when both pre-school and school-age children are counted. On this basis, it was estimated in the National Action Plan for Childminding that there are approximately 15,000 childminders caring for children in the childminder’s home.

As part of Phase 1 of the National Action Plan for Childminding, my Department is committed to carrying out further research and analysis to help inform estimates of the number of childminders likely to come within the scope of future regulation. Consultation processes being planned for 2023 will support this analysis.

Also as part of the National Action Plan for Childminding, my Department is now providing for employment by the City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) of a team of 22 Childminding Development Officers to work at local level providing supports to childminders. As part of their work, the Childminding Development Officers work to offer supports to childminders who have not yet engaged with the supports available through the CCCs or Childminding Ireland. The National Action Plan commits to further strengthening local supports over the coming years through the development and introduction of staffed local childminding networks.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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431. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps he is taking to support the national childminding representative body (details supplied); the amount of funding that will be allocated in 2023; and if equal supports will be provided, similar to other childcare representative bodies, in order to support childminders into the future. [6791/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The organisation referred to in the Deputy's question is a national associative body for childminders and is primarily funded, as one of the National Voluntary Childcare Organisations, by my Department. This organisation provides information, advice, guidance and training to childminders, both members and non-members. It supports research into childminding, and helps childminders to inform policy development that relates to them. Its work continues to be a significant part of the range of supports available to childminders.

The organisation was allocated €340,000 for 2023 to fund the work that it undertakes on behalf of my Department as outlined in its Implementation Plan for 2023. The amounts allocated to funded voluntary organisations vary depending on the work that they undertake on behalf of the Department.

In relation to future funding, my Department has committed to transitioning to the introduction of new funding arrangements for the work undertaken by National Voluntary Childcare Organisations. My Department is currently considering the mechanism for allocating funding going forward.

Childminders are also supported by the City and County Childcare Committees. As a result of additional funding secured in Budget 2023, my Department is now providing for employment by the City/County Childcare Committees of a team of 22 Childminding Development Officers to work at local level providing supports to childminders while also supporting actions under the National Action Plan for Childminding 2022-2028.